Providing Data on the Web: From Examples to Programs

Carlos A. Varela, Caroline C. Hayes
Department of Computer Science
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

cvarela@cs.uiuc.edu, hayes@cs.uiuc.edu

URL: http://fiaker.ncsa.uiuc.edu:8080/WWW94-2/abstract.html

Abstract

The World-Wide Web brings a global information universe into existence using available technology. In order to fully realize the benefits of this information system, we have developed a methodology to create scripts that query existing databases and produce effective user interfaces [Varela and Hayes 1994].

In this paper, we have extended this technology, primarily based upon the fact, that most WWW gateways are just performing a conversion between different data formats (for example, from BibTeX to HTML.) And considering that most of the input formats are fixed, we have included a module into our system Zelig, to generate code for extracting database, record and field information from traditional report examples (i.e. not in hypertext.)

Consequently, using Zelig, information providers only need to give examples of their current database reports and the desired HTML code to be generated for those particular examples. Zelig produces the program to extract relevant data from the reports and also produces the schemata to drive the HTML generation process. As an example, we have generated a ph gateway for the CCSO nameserver software providing data for academic institutions around the world.

Ultimately, this procedure offers the user a more efficient, fully customized interface, further closing the gap between information generation, provision and use.

Related Publications

[Varela 1994]

C. Varela. Automating Database Provision for the World-Wide Web and Mosaic Ninth International Symposium on Information Systems, Kobe, Japan, Oct 11-13, 1994. Invited speaker.

[Varela and Hayes 1994]

C. Varela, C. Hayes. Zelig: Schema-Based Generation of Soft WWW Database Applications. First International Conference on the World Wide Web, Geneva, Switzerland, May 25-29, 1994. URL: http://fiaker.ncsa.uiuc.edu:8080/WWW94.html

[Varela 1994]

C. Varela. Schema-Based Generation of Evolving Software. M.S. Thesis. Department of Computer Science. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

[Varela and Hayes 1993]

C. Varela, C. Hayes. Automating Design of Database Management Systems. Department of Computer Science. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Technical Report.

Carlos A. Varela

Received his B.S. and M.S. in Computer Science (CS) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he is currently a Ph.D. student. His research interests include integrating formal methods of artificial intelligence in software engineering, specially information systems.

Carlos has also been a research assistant at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) since 1991. At NCSA he has worked in different projects including an alpha shapes visualizer (NCSA Walvis), a World-Wide Web browser ( NCSA Mosaic for X/Windows), and a World-Wide Web server (NCSA httpd for Unix).

In the past, Carlos has been a Math and Computer Science teaching assistant for classes up to differential equations and information systems at the University of Los Andes, Bogota, Colombia. He has also been a consultant for Arthur Andersen & Co., and an Artificial Intelligence fellow at the Beckman Institute for the Advancement of Science and Technology.

Caroline C. Hayes

Received her B.S. in Math, M.S. in Knowledge-Based Systems, and Ph.D. in Robotics, all from Carnegie Mellon University.

Currently she is an assistant professor at the Department of Computer Science and at the Beckman Institute of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.